Alternate Helvetica /a?

Evie S.
Evie S. Posts: 76
in Type History
Lately, I've been documenting the typography of Chicago's public transportation, namely the CTA ‘L’. I'm used to a certain amount of variability, but I've noticed this bizarre variation on Helvetica's /a that omits the signature curve on the upper bowl.
The only solid date I can provide is that the “Priority Seating” sticker is likely original from 1992-1994—when the train (3200 series, train #3264) was built. Was this a common modification?
Also, it really appears to me that the sticker and “These facilities for passengers only…” are just part of the font, while the “Rapid Transit” appears custom-made (note the differences between the two appearances of /a).

Answers

  • Craig Eliason
    Craig Eliason Posts: 1,479
    Looks like the /a in Unica.
  • Thomas Phinney
    Thomas Phinney Posts: 3,079
    edited September 11
    It doesn’t look like Helvetica to me. I don’t think it is Unica either.

    Look at how the terminals on a, e, s and g are all slightly off a straight vertical cut. Also the slope on the mid-stroke of the “a”…

    The “a” is reminiscent of Unica, but those off-vertical angles are not. (From what I can find of original Unica samples online. They are not as common as one would like.)
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,295
    edited September 8
    Some kind of “Standard.”
    There were many typositor neo-grotesques, and Chicago was Graphic City (Oz Cooper’s stomping ground), and home of VGC for instance.
    So I would connect the dots and assume the font is a local product, if not Akzidenz Grotesk.
  • Evie S.
    Evie S. Posts: 76
    As I understand it, the perfect terminals on Helvetica are from the digital era. Here is a couple examples I could find of a similar specimen from Letterform Archive, one with obvious non-horizontal terminals (/e in general, /s in Geist), and one annotated (rather annoyingly, sorry!)
    Here's another sign I found today. The numerals scream Helvetica to me, especially with the underbite of /9:
    And (to me) a gorgeous example of pre-digital Helvetica, again with a slightly diagonal terminal in the /e:

  • Peter Bain
    Peter Bain Posts: 17
    Depending on the method, hand-cut sign vinyl following a template was/is around at fabricators. As far as the “a” and associated typeface, the Chicago area was home to pre-PostScript era font publishers (of varying reputation) since Ludlow as Nick Shinn pointed out. It seems like a case of near-vetica.
  • Peter Bain
    Peter Bain Posts: 17
    BBS had been gone a long time when those signs were produced.

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